Collapsible jointed ladder and storage means therefor



July 4, 1950 AND STORAGE MEANS Filed April 18, 1947 O. W. ALLENCOLLAPSIBLE JOINTED LADDER THEREFOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 5 5 a II" x 5 E,v 5

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,: Inventor OfisWAI/en WM y van Wavy Attorneys 0. W. ALLEN COLLAPSIBLEJOINTED LADDER AND STORAGE MEANS THEREFOR July 4, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed April 18, 1947 Inventor Otis W. Allen Patented July 4, 1950COLLAPSIBLE JOINTED LADDER AND STORAGE MEANS THEREFOR Otis W. Allen,Greenwood, Miss assignor of onehalf to Daniel K. Kelly, Greenwood, Miss.

Application April 18, 1917, Serial No. 742,286 Claims. (Cl- 228-44) Thepresent invention relates to new and useful improvements in escapeladders for buildings to enable occupants to safely leave the buildingin case of fire or other emergency and more particularly to anextensible ladder constructed of a plurality of slidably connectedsections held in a compact retracted position to the side of a buildingat its upper portion and in which the sections automatically gravitateinto a lowered extended position when released.

An important object of the present invention is to provide novel meansfor slidably' connecting the sections of the ladder to each other formovement into and out of an extended position.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for holding thesections of the ladder in a raised retracted position and operable fromwithin the building to release the sections of the ladder for slidingdownwardly into a lowered extended position.

A still further object is to provide a. housing for the sections of theladder when in a raised retracted position together with hoisting meansfor raising the sections of the ladder into the house.

An additional object is to provide shock absorbing means at theconnected ends of the sections of the ladder to reduce shock during thelowering movement thereof.

A still further object is to provide a device of this character ofsimple and practical construction, which is efiicient and reliable inoperation,

relatively inexpensive to manufacture and install in operative positionat the side of the bui ding and which otherwise is well adapted for thepurposes for which the same is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein likenumerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure l is a front elevational view showing the escape ladder in alowered extended position on the side of a building.

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on a line 2-2 ofFigure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on a line 33 of Figure 2 and showingthe hoist in position for raising the ladder.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the lowerend of one of the sections of the ladder and with parts shown in sectionto show the shock absorber therein, and

Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of the hollow rails ortracks of a pair of connected sections of the ladder and showing one ofthe U-shaped connectors therefor.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein for the purpose ofillustration I have disclosed 2 a preferred embodiment of the inventionthe numeral 5 designates an extension ladder generally which is composedof a plurality of ladder sections 6, each section including a pair ofhollow side rails l and rungs 8 having their ends secured in the rails Iby washers 9 and screws Ill. The outer edge of the rails I are formedwith longitudinally extending closed ended slots or channels H in whichone end of a U-shaped connector I2 is slidably received while the otherend of the connector is pivotally mounted in an opening I! in the upperend of an adjacent lower ladder section. The ends of the connector l2are formed with annular heads or flanges H to retain the connectors inthe hollow tracks.

The uppermost ladder section designated at I5 is secured by a bracket orthe like It to the outer side of the wall I! of a building adiacent itsupper end and braces l8 secured at vertically spaced intervals to thesection l5 of the ladder spaced the same perpendicularly from the wallof the building.

A housing I! is secured to the outer surface to the wall II which isopen at its bottom for raising the sections Gof the ladder into acompact retracted position as shown in Figure 2 of the drawings. Anelectric motor 20 is mounted on a platform 2| in the upper portion ofthe housing I! for operating a drum 22 also mounted on the platform andon which a cable 23 is wound. To the lower end of the cable is suitablyattached a pair of hooks 24 engageable in the rail 1 of the lowermostsection of the ladder for hoisting the sections of the ladder into aretracted position in the housing I! as shown in Figure 2. The upper andlower ends of the ladder sections are beveled as shown at 25 to providea lateral sliding movement of a lower ladder section during its raisingaction to guide said lower ladder section outwardly from its adjacentupper section into the position as shown in Figure 2 during the raisingof said section into the housing l9.

In order to secure the sections of the ladder in a raised position Iprovide a pair of shafts 28 journaled in the wall ll of the building andin the outer side of the housing IS, the shafts being positioned atopposite sides of the ladder and provided with a pair of arcuate hooks21 secured at one end to the respective shafts and having their otherends free and movable into and out of position in the track of thelowermost ladder section to thus hold the sections of the ladder in araised position. To the inner end of the shafts 26 are attached crankarms 28 having refrom the ladder sectionand thus permit gravita- 3 tionof the sections into a lowered extended position.

The top 01' the housing I9 is provided with a hinged cover 30 to providea trapdoor to obtain access to the interior of the housing and mechanismtherein and the partition 2| is provided with an opening 3| to alsoafford access to the ladder and mechanism therein and which furtherprovides means for persons to escape from the roof of the building.

In the lower end of the tracks of each section of the ladder, except thelowermost section, is positioned a coil spring 32 on top of which issupported a block 33 for engagement by the end of the connector 12 whenmoving downwardly in the tracks to function as a shock absorber and thusreduce the shocks of the respective sections of the ladder during thesudden lowering movement thereof.

The ladder is preferably positioned at the side of a building adjacentthe windows 34 thereof and secured to an adjacent side of the window andextending toward the ladder is a hand rail 35 and a foot rest or bar 36to enable persons to easily reach the ladder from the window. v

In the operation of the device the ladder sections 6 are normally heldin a raised retracted position by the hooks 21 and upon releasing of thehooks by the rod 29 the sections of the lad- 1 der will automaticallygravitate into a lowered 1 extended position as shown in Figure 1whereby persons may lower themselves on the ladder to escape from thebuilding in case of emergency. In order toraise the ladder into itsretracted position the hooks 24 engage the lowermost section of theladder and upon winding the cable 23 on the drum 22 the sections of theladder will be 1 moved into their uppermost position and held in j suchposition by the hooks 21.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings it is believed that a clear understanding of thedevice will be quite apparent-to those skilled in this art. A moredetailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, however, that even thou h there is herein shownand described a preferred embodiment of the invention the same issusceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of theinvention as herein described and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: I 1. An escape device comprising an extensible ladder composedof a. plurality of ladder sect ons, means securing the uppermost sectionto a supporting structure, rails at the sides of the sections and havinglongitudinal channels, U- shaped connectors having one end pivoted tothe upper portion of a lower section and with their other ends slidablein said channels of an adjacent upper section, said connectors securingthe sections to each other in parallel relation when in' a raisedposition and also securing the sections to each other in a suspendedposition one below the other when lowered, and catch means releasablyinsertable in the channel of at least one of the rails to hold thesections in a raised position.

2. An escape device comprising an extensible ladder composed of aplurality of ladder sections, means securing the uppermost section to asupporting structure, rails at the sides of the sections andhaving-longitudinal channels, connectors for adjacent sections andsecured to the upper portion of a lower section and slidable in saidchannels of an adjacent upper section to connect the sections to eachother either in a raised position parallel to each other or in a.lowered position suspended from each other, and catch means releasablyholding the sections in a raised position, said catch means comprisingan oscillatable shaft, a. hook secured to the shaft for movement intoand out of engagement with one of said channels in the outermost of theladder sections, and operating means for the shaft.

3. An escape device comprising an extensible ladder composed of aplurality of ladder sections, means securing the uppermost section to asupporting structure, rails at the sides of the sections and havinglongitudinal channels, connectors for adjacent sections and secured tothe upper portion of a lower section and slidable in said channels of anadjacent upper section to connect the sections to each other either in araised position parallel to each other or in a lowered positionsuspended from each other, said channels having closed lower ends andcoiled springs .within the channels and supported on said closed endsand comprising shock absorbers between said ends and the correspondingconnectors.

4. An escape device comprising an extensible ladder composed of aplurality of ladder sections, means connecting the upper ladder sectionto a supporting structure, connectors for adjacent ladder sections andoperable to hold said sections to each other in a. raised parallelposition or in a lowered extended position, said sections of the ladderhaving their adjacent end portions inclined in a direction to slide thesections laterally in relation to each other during initial raisingmovement of a lower section, and means releasably securing the sectionsin a raised position.

5. An escape device comprising an extensible ladder composed of aplurality of ladder sections, means securing the uppermost section to asupporting structure, rails at the sides of the sections and havinglongitudinal channels, connectors for adjacent sections and secured tothe upper portion of a lower section and slidable in said channels of anadjacent upper section to connect the sections to each other either in araised position parallel to each other or in a lowered positionsuspended from each other, said channels being closed at each end ofeach rail, blocks in the lower ends of the channels, and springs mountedbetween the blocks and the closed lower ends of the rails, saidconnectors being U-shaped and a portion of each connector slidable inthe channel of an upper section en- 1 gaging a block in the samesection.

OTIS W. REFERENCES crrEn The following references are of record-in thefile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

